Founded more than
80 years ago, the Kentucky Hospital
Association is a partnership of people and organizations dedicated to improving
health care delivery throughout the Commonwealth. The Association facilities
collaborative efforts among Kentucky hospitals, all of which are members of KHA,
and is the source for strategic information about the constantly changing health
care environment. The mission of the Kentucky Hospital Association is to
provide representation and member services that assist hospitals to fulfill
their mission in serving the health care needs of the public. For more
information on KHA, please visit our web site at www.kyha.com.

Through publication of this report, Kentuckyís hospital
continue their commitment to helping the public better understand the health
care delivery system and cost of health care services.

The Kentucky Hospital Association collects billing data
from all Kentucky acute care hospitals for all patients who were admitted for
inpatient care. Hospitals report data on a quarterly basis. This report covers
inpatient discharges at Kentuckyís acute care hospitals for the most recent 12
month period where quarterly data has been finalized.

The information in this report is hospital-specific and
includes for each MSDRG (Medicare Severity Adjusted Diagnosis Related Groups)
the number of cases each hospital treated for the MSDRG, the median length of stay
and median charges and the median age of patients. Information is
provided on the top 200 MSDRGs
that account for more than 87% of all admissions to Kentucky acute care
hospitals. KHA continues to expand the list of MSDRGs included in this report to
additional conditions if patient volume is large enough to support statistically
reliable data.

The data provided to KHA by Kentucky hospitals is grouped
into illness categories, called Diagnosis Related Groups, or MSDRGs.
MSDRGs group
similar patients requiring similar hospital resources to take care of them, and
similar anticipated lengths of stay. Each patient admitted to the hospital gets
assigned one DRG for that visit. It is based on a number of factors: the main
diagnosis for the admission, along with other conditions noted, procedures
performed, and age of patient. Other conditions that can influence the MSDRG
assigned are complications and co-morbidities that cause the hospital stay to be
longer in many persons. Providing information about MSDRGs can give you an idea
about the types of cases that particular hospitals are seeing.

This report includes median
hospital charge information
for discharges falling within a given severity level for a diagnostic condition
(MSDRG). The policy and setting of charges is determined by individual
hospital. While charges are what the hospital reports on the billing form, they
may not accurately represent the amount a hospital receives in payment for the
services it delivers. However, hospital charges are used almost universally by
those attempting to assess the costs of health care. Hospital charge data
does not include separate physician charges.

The charges listed are averages for items and services
provided by hospitals, based on the number of patients and total charges for
that illness. Figures include charges for the hospital room, hospital services
ordered by a doctor (such as ex-rays and laboratory tests), and personal care
items (such as hospital gowns).

The median value was used in order to eliminate extremely low or high charges. Without these extreme values, the average
charges and the typical range of charges are more representative of the charges
that most patients would experience. A hospitalís charges for the 10th
percentile and 90th percentile reflect a statistical standard range.
About 80% of the time, the hospitalís total listed charge will be
between the 10th and 90th percentiles. This helps to tell you what is likely to happen
within a given hospital. Because these figures are averages, they may be
different from what you are billed. The numbers do not measure
quality of care.

Charges vary because no two patients,
conditions, reactions to medications or treatment, or time of recovery are
identical.

Individual physician judgment based on patient needs
influences treatment decisions. Some MSDRGs have little variation of charges
within the minor severity level because physicians agree on standard treatment
procedures. Other MSDRGs can have a significant range of charges because the
MSDRG includes a wide variety of illnesses and
treatment among these illnesses is not standardized. Charges may be higher
at hospitals located in areas of the state where wage levels and cost of living
is higher. Hospitals affiliated with medical schools and those which incur
additional costs associated with training medical and allied health students may
also have higher charges.

Length of stay in a hospital can vary because of many
factors, such as older patients requiring more services, hospitals treating
patients who are more severely ill than the average patient or who have more
complications and/or multiple conditions requiring treatment during their
hospitalization. Length of stay can be shorter for hospitals where additional
resources such as nursing home or home health services are readily available in
the community to provide any necessary follow up care.

The measurement of quality is highly complex, and the
information used to capture such measures is limited. Systems to measure and
compare hospital performance are in the developmental stages. Hospital
personnel use the information to pinpoint areas for potential improvement within
the facility. Click here for
more information about the National Initiatives that Kentucky Hospitals are participating in.